Oct 23, 2009

Exquisite

....definitely describes the accomplishment of the Phillies disposing the Dodgers and winning the NL pennant for the 2nd straight year. They are the first NL team to accomplish this since the 95-96 Braves. Of course, there is one step more to travel!

Well, Exquisite also is another term used by Upper Deck to name its high end line. Clocking in at a substantial price for packs, I would never buy any on my own, so I participated in a group break hosted by Jeff at the always willing to break a box I Am Joe Collector.

As you can you see below, I believe I made out pretty well, and am quite happy with the results. The reason I'm not posting this until now is because the last card was a redemption and just arrived in the mail last week.


First, is a base card (all non-parallel base cards are #d to 99) of Jonathan Papelbon. I'm not sure why products like this have a base set per se. It would nearly be impossible to collect, and the target audience of this product probably wouldn't want to anyway. The base card is just as thick as the autos or relics in this product (that is to say, really thick)

Here is an auto (#ed to 20)of Hector Gimenez, a former prospect, who I had never heard of previously. There are a number of rookie autos in this product, which may or may not lessen the overall appeal of the product, depending on the consumer.

This would be the highlight pull. Yes, it is two Yankees' autos. Yes, it is of pitchers who probably have little discernible chance to make an impact on the MLB scene. But it's my first ever 1 of 1. (I've never pulled a printing plate, parallel, or Topps Moments and Milestones anything). The card is extra-refractive and the foil behind the auto shines with a radiative light (ok, that's an exaggeration), but it is nice.

One problem with all these cards in general is that for such a high end product, the cards chip very easily. The last card came in the mail in that top loader from Upper Deck with that chip already on the card. It must be the dark border colors or something.

So there you have it, 2007 Exquisite.

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